Severn Trent water and court

HappyMJ

samsmoot wrote: »

As I said, I don't pay anything, but that would be OK. Or even a month in advance might be fairer.

There must be more to it...Is your name on the bill? Do you own anything of value.....such as a house that a CCJ can be secured against? If you own nothing then South Staffs are not going to waste customers money on a CCJ that they can never collect on.

Cardew wrote: »

The indisputable fact is that the companies do charge in advance. It is also indisputable that ofwat approves.

So if you consider that unlawful, then raise a complaint!

Agreed....however, South Staffs don't charge anything in advance to metered customers it's all in arrears including the standing charges.

samsmoot

Cardew wrote: »

The indisputable fact is that the companies do charge in advance. It is also indisputable that ofwat approves.





So if you consider that unlawful, then raise a complaint!

Sorry, but isn't the first quote from one of the water companies, as opposed to a statement of what the law says? OFWAT can approve whatever it likes, but so what? It can say that water companies can ask for advance charges, but cannot point to legislation that shows a consumer must pay those charges a year in advance, only that those charges should be paid.

samsmoot

Yes, HappyMJ, I am too poor for them to bother about.

WhiteHorse

samsmoot wrote: »

OFWAT can approve whatever it likes, but so what? It can say that water companies can ask for advance charges, but cannot point to legislation that shows a consumer must pay those charges a year in advance, only that those charges should be paid.

An important distinction.

If there is no law that lays down these terms, or expressly states that the water companies may do exactly as they please, than I would guess that advance payment would be a contractual term.

However, is 12 months in advance a reasonable term in the circumstances?

Personally, I never pay any charges like this more than 30 days in advance.

samsmoot

WhiteHorse wrote: »

Personally, I never pay any charges like this more than 30 days in advance.

Good for you - and is what I encourage. Just wouldn't want to get anyone into trouble.


I guess we all have to decide for ourselves whether to pay in advance or not, but if you don't own your property the risk would be small (around £40 issue fee plus their solicitor's costs) to refuse to pay advance charges until they actually made the claim. If it ever came to that, that is.

Even if you lost the claim, you could be ready to pay the judgement off quickly, get the entry amended etc, but that's where they have got you - most folk are v. reluctant to fight a claim in case they lose - as I understand it many employers these days do not stand for employees with any kind of civil judgement against them.

energysavingexp

samsmoot wrote: »

As I said, I don't pay anything, but that would be OK. Or even a month in advance might be fairer.

you say that you dont pay anything for your water.
what gives you the right to use it then why should i and others pay for you
you should pay for what you use and stop taking the p*ss

samsmoot

energysavingexp wrote: »

you say that you dont pay anything for your water.
what gives you the right to use it then why should i and others pay for you
you should pay for what you use and stop taking the p*ss

No need for the language, is there?

I don't really think I'm costing you very much, if anything, energysavingexpert. I would imagine that Severn Trent's fine of over £40,000,000 for lying to the regulator may have pushed up prices a little for their customers.

To be perfectly straight with you I stopped paying water charges because South Staffs got me very annoyed. They were the ones who started on me - they threatened court action to recover around six months worth of advance charges. I urged them to take the action but then they backed off. Perhaps I should just have paid then? Been nice and compliant and not caused a fuss? Paid money to them I didn't owe?

On top of this a good friend had money stopped from their benefit after Severn Trent applied for Third Party Deductions to be made for arrears. Only thing was, they hadn't even asked for any money up until then - they just applied for the deductions to Jobcentre Plus and they gave my friend's money away. What followed was very interesting, as neither Severn Trent nor Jobcentre Plus would stop the deductioins. Now that's what I call taking the P. Got the DWP in court in the end and forced them to stop the deductions and the judge ordered that all the money be returned.

So, as you can see, I am not coming from a neutral position with these people.

Gothicfairy

STW being fined did not cost the customer anything, in truth each customer got a couple of quid off their bill due to that "error"..but even so they are hardly alone are they.

Direct payments can and are taken when it is felt the account is getting into arrears, there is no need for either the water company or the DWP to advice the customer until those payments are set up and as for your not paying, I can only see a CCJ ahead as sooner or later they will take you to court as they are legally allowed to take the RV charge in advance.


Nothing you have suggested as "not coming from a neutral position" really works for me as there are many many things that the water companies do wrong but your 2 are hardly a drop in the water barrel.

Pay what you owe or don't but don't come !!!!!ing when it all goes wrong.

energysavingexp

samsmoot wrote: »

No need for the language, is there?

I don't really think I'm costing you very much, if anything, energysavingexpert. I would imagine that Severn Trent's fine of over £40,000,000 for lying to the regulator may have pushed up prices a little for their customers.

To be perfectly straight with you I stopped paying water charges because South Staffs got me very annoyed. They were the ones who started on me - they threatened court action to recover around six months worth of advance charges. I urged them to take the action but then they backed off. Perhaps I should just have paid then? Been nice and compliant and not caused a fuss? Paid money to them I didn't owe?

On top of this a good friend had money stopped from their benefit after Severn Trent applied for Third Party Deductions to be made for arrears. Only thing was, they hadn't even asked for any money up until then - they just applied for the deductions to Jobcentre Plus and they gave my friend's money away. What followed was very interesting, as neither Severn Trent nor Jobcentre Plus would stop the deductioins. Now that's what I call taking the P. Got the DWP in court in the end and forced them to stop the deductions and the judge ordered that all the money be returned.

So, as you can see, I am not coming from a neutral position with these people.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU MAKE MY BLOOD BOIL.:mad:
you might just as well say i dont like the prices in tesco so i'm not going to pay for it infact ill just STEAL the food you think the shop will just stand the loss.
No it goes on to the price of the products so i and others have to pay more
why should you have something for nothing i bet you are one of those people who milk the system for every penny.
people like you imo are worse then the fat cat bankers
just because you and you alone dont like the system that 99.99999999% of other people who can ill afford to pay just acept that we have to pay.
after all they do provide you with a very good service
if you dont think so go and live in africa and see how you get on there having to walk miles with a pot to get not even clean water.
like someone else said if you dont like the up front charge get a meter fitted and pay for what you use after you have used it

Cardew

Samsmoot,

You entered this thread questioning the legality of water companies demanding payment for the year ahead.

You are now seemingly trying to justify not paying for water on the grounds you don't like the company.

Not a very logical or admirable stance.